The Bottom Feeder

AUGUST 9, 2023

Way back in February, I wrote a big article about indie phenomenon Vampire Survivors. So great that a million indie developers coincidentally had the EXACT same idea a few days later. Both about game design, and about the indie games biz as a whole. Indie developers started copying it almost immediately after it went public.

Co-op 76

Co-op Indy Games Balance 76

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 27, 2023

The game is balanced on a multitude of variables, events, triggers, put together like a house of cards. The market is so saturated, that every little defect becomes an ‘elephant in the room’ for players that often compare a low-budget indie title to AAA games. A little mistake, a little bug, and everything can fall down.”

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Pixel Studios Development Film 211

Game Wisdom

MAY 25, 2023

The Clash of Choices in Game Design Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com One of the many balancing acts of game design is the act of creating cool, interesting, unique, abilities for the player to use, and then balancing said abilities within the scope and design of your game.

Game Design 59

Game Design Game Designer Balance Games 59

The Bottom Feeder

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

A few devs are still salty, but life appears to go on. “My Development Life Is Crap From Wall Too Wall, I Have No Time, and Now I Have To Look At Incomprehensible Corporate Balance Sheets Too?" Though reading all those devs tweeting that they were switching to Godot and tweeting 5 minutes later, "Oh no! Unity backs off.

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Software Engine Engineering Game Engine 83

Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

While the significance of platforms like Steam is evident, there’s been a notable evolution in the indie gaming scene. With it comes the challenging balance between financial backing and creative control. He praised Steam’s dedication to not only the large AAA studios but also to the indie developers.

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Indy AAA Platformer Educational 105

Radiator Blog

MARCH 16, 2023

Last month, game industry documentary makers 2 Player Productions debuted a massive 32-part YouTube game dev doc series Double Fine PsychOdyssey , chronicling the development of Psychonauts 2 from its earliest glimmers of pre-production in 2015 to its final release in 2021.

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Art Concepts Dev Studios 59

Rindoku

OCTOBER 7, 2016

After months of toiling in a secluded attic, the last weeks of which were particularly grueling, we finally took Second Hand to its first public showings: first to Dev-Play in Bucharest and shortly thereafter to Clujotronic in our very own Cluj. It was scary, thrilling, amazing and… we won the Dev-Play Indie Pitch!

Point and Click 52

Point and Click Dev Demo Playtesting 52

Deconstructor of Fun

DECEMBER 13, 2022

This is a well-balanced team in terms of disciplines, covering software, design, and art. The common point is that both were the co-founders of the indie games company Scuttlebutt Games. The profiles make me think of something indie-looking. And past experience in entrepreneurship. What can we expect from this team?

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Studios Mobile Mobile Console 52

CG Spectrum

APRIL 3, 2023

You can also find lots of them for free on the GDC Youtube channel ; Invest your money in building your game dev skills and portfolio at a reputable school with a vibrant community (like CG Spectrum!). As we know, changes in our industry are gradually being made to provide a safer and more balanced environment for everyone in this industry.

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Game Developer Game Development Development Games 98

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

German indie developer Vivid Storm Interactive is a three person team that started when they launched a Kickstarter campaign for Ascent of Ashes in 2021. RimWorld is balanced around sitting on a single map, with everything easily accessible. This also meant we had less dev time to fix bugs or optimize performance.

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Dev Development Prototyping Feature 118

PreMortem.Games

JUNE 20, 2023

Then the first wave of really successful indie games appeared on Steam, in the late 00s and early 10s. People who follow indie/solo devs on social media tend to be really nice and positive, but even so it takes a lot of effort.” It was the first answer I had as a child to the question ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’?

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Dev Art Prototyping Development 104

Mircosoft Game Dev

AUGUST 26, 2017

will impose itself as a major game development tool for big studios and indies alike. Live Q&A video : Each month, pledgers at this level or upper will be able to ask questions to the devs in written form. Note that this reward used to give three vote points for tutorials and demos, but it was reduced to two to be better balanced.

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Demo Engine Engineering Software 52

Radiator Blog

MAY 5, 2021

WE SHOULD ALL DO THIS / STEAL THIS: Dev-owned wiki. The dev team "SureAI" operates the official Endreal strategy guide and lore wiki. It's probably not worth the hassle for a solo indie. this is better to sell" and this tips that balance too much toward the latter. Sit and listen. It makes money too important.

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Open World NPC Cutscenes Terrain 52

PreMortem.Games

AUGUST 1, 2023

This article is part of the game-dev advice newsletter Levelling the Playing Field by Rami Ismail. Well known indie dev ( Vlambeer ) Rami Ismail developed a ready-made pitch template , with the help of several indie studios of all sizes, and professionals working at two dozen publishers.

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Point and Click Dev Indy Writing 104

Game Dev Unchained

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

” He subtly points to the age-old debate about work-life balance and the perceived differences between American and European professional cultures. Interestingly, while many indie developers opt for collaborative efforts early on, the mind behind “Lucid” wanted to wear multiple hats. ” The tools?

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Indy Pixel AAA Art 64

Keith Burgun

JUNE 20, 2022

I mean, part of why I can’t believe that is that for almost a full year after the launch, I was furiously updating the game: two new factions, a new game mode (arguably two), a map editor, tons and tons of balance changes, polishing, bugfixes, you name it. I also think, actually all told, the whole dev process was pretty darn short.

Indy 52

Indy Point and Click Game Design Game Designer 52

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 23, 2019

A lot of the indie retailers are friends and just in general are a tightly-knit group. I don’t know how these folks do it, because I’m engaged, I work a full-time job, I got family, I got friends, I’m like, I don’t know how these folks balance all that stuff, and they have a baby too, that blows my mind. Brandon: Oh goodness.

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Retail Games Editing Writing 130

Mircosoft Game Dev

APRIL 27, 2018

For indies or small companies, it may even involve outsourcing to third party artists. This is expensive per se, but it's optimized by doing a pre-aabb intersection and balanced binary trees to minimize the amount of ray tests. For developers, creating 3D art is a time consuming process. As a result, the performance is really good.

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Polygon Mesh Prototyping Art 52

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

Perfect for pretending to have played Deathloop if you find yourself talking to a game dev. Not that you should ever talk to a game dev. and I think this balance tuning is intentional. So I think they got this balance right, even if I whine about it. no mind control) only 5 powers (+1 PvP only power).

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Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52

Radiator Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Back in 2019 when I was making the original prototype, there were also two other gay cowboy things on my mind: Orville Peck's hit single "Dead of Night" and the gay indie romance film God's Own Country. Balancing the weight of each system was difficult. Like Brokeback, it's a story about young unhappy unsuccessful queer men.

Pixel 52

Pixel Film Art NPC 52

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 29, 2018

I also work with indie dev companies on a more casual level discussing challenges, goals and brainstorming solutions. You want to strike a balance between being specific and deliberate, but also human and approachable when writing rule books. This provides a three-pronged approach to getting balanced feedback on the writing.

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Writing Games Mechanics Balance 130